1. Field
The invention is in the field of scissors or other instruments having blades or arms that pivot with handles at one end of each blade or arm to be held by and operated by a user.
2. State of the Art
There are various configurations of scissors and similar tools, but all have a pair of blades that are pivoted with handles at one end of each blade to be held by a user. Most scissors have a lower handle with a loop through which a user inserts one or more of his fingers to securely hold the scissors or similar tool and an upper handle with a loop through which the user inserts his thumb. The scissor is operated by the user moving his thumb in relation to his fingers to pivot the scissor blades about their pivot point between open and closed positions. In most cases, scissors are uncomfortable to use because they do not fit the users hand very well. It is difficult to provide handles which universally fit most sizes of hands. In addition, scissors are very difficult for a person missing a thumb or fingers to operate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,061 shows a specially designed scissor having a spring handle connecting the two handles of a scissor together and biasing the scissor to open position. A user holds the spring handle in his or her palm and closes the palm to close the scissor and cut desired material. Since this scissor is operated by closing the palm it is a different action than normally used for operating scissors.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,629 shows a specially designed scissor having an enlarged lower handle to be held in the user""s fingers and an upper handle without a thumb ring upon which the thumb can rest to operate the scissor. Since without the thumb ring the thumb can only force the upper handle downwardly, the scissor has to be biased to the open position.
According to the invention, the upper handle of a scissor or similar implement includes an enlarged handle portion which can be held in the palm of a user""s hand while one or more of the user""s fingers fits into the lower normal finger loop of the scissor to operate the lower handle and scissor. This has been found to provide a much easier and more comfortable way to hold and operate a scissors or similar item but does not change the basic operation of the scissor. Further, the scissor can be operated by a disabled person as long as such person has at least two operable fingers. The enlarged handle portion can be an integral part of the upper handle or may be added to the upper handle of an existing pair of scissors so existing scissors can be used with the invention. No specially designed scissors are needed and no biasing of the scissor blades to open position is necessary.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the enlarged handle portion is provided as a separate item to be secured to the upper handle of an existing scissor. Various securement schemes may be used. The enlarged handle may be made in two halves which are held together, such as by a screw or similar holding means, to sandwich a portion of the upper scissor loop handle between the two halves of the enlarged handle to thereby secure the enlarged handle to the scissor upper loop handle.